The Bombay High Court Tuesday dismissed the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) pleas challenging two arbitration awards worth over Rs 538 crore granted in favour of the now-defunct Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala.
The dispute arose after the BCCI terminated the franchise in September 2011, citing an alleged breach of the franchise agreement. Kochi Tuskers Kerala took part in only one season of the IPL, in 2011, under a consortium led by Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) and operated by Kochi Cricket Private Limited (KCPL). Aggrieved by the “wrongful” termination, RSW and KCPL began arbitration proceedings, and on June 22, 2015, the arbitral tribunal awarded over Rs 384.83 crore to KCPL and over Rs 153.34 crore to RSW, along with interest and costs.
Upholding the awards, a single-judge bench of Justice Riyaz I Chagla dismissed the two petitions by the BCCI. The petition against KCPL concerned an award related to disputes arising from its franchise agreement with the BCCI, dated March 12, 2011. The challenge to the award in favour of RSW was related to disputes arising from its agreement with the BCCI, dated April 11, 2010.
The bench noted that the BCCI, alleging that the awards were perverse, sought the court to venture into fact-finding exercise by revisiting the record and accepting competing interpretations of various clauses of the agreements between the parties.
“The jurisdiction of this Court under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act is very limited. BCCI’s endeavour to delve into the merits of the dispute, is in teeth of the scope of the grounds contained in Section 34 of the Act. BCCI’s dissatisfaction as to the findings rendered in respect of the evidence and/or the merits cannot be a ground to assail the Award,” Justice Chagla noted.
“The conclusion of the learned Arbitrator namely that BCCI had wrongfully invoked the bank guarantee which amounted to a repudiatory breach of the KCPL-FA would call for no interference under Section 34 of the Arbitration Act considering that this is based on a correct appreciation of the evidence on record,” Justice Chagla added.
As per the franchise agreement, KCPL was required to furnish a bank guarantee by March 2011, which the firm failed to do. KCPL referred to the non-availability of a brand-new stadium in Kochi, shareholding approvals, and a sudden reduction in the number of IPL matches.
